College of Education
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Item Exploring the Contributions of Word Knowledge and Figural Reasoning Ability to College Students' Performance on a Measure of Relational Reasoning with Words(2021) Zhao, Hongyang; Alexander, Patricia; Human Development; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Word knowledge has long been considered as one of the most important predictors of reading comprehension, academic achievement, and social development. However, it was relatively narrowly conceptualized and measured as either the number of words individuals know the general meaning of (i.e., breadth) or the simple association between two words (i.e., depth). The problem with such a one-sided view is that the existing measures of word knowledge is limited in revealing the quality of word knowledge, which is characterized by both depth and breadth. In this investigation, by comparison, quality of word knowledge was conceptualized as individuals’ fine-grained understanding of the word meanings as they systematically identified semantic similarities and differences among a group of words. It is believed that through deliberate comparisons among word sets, individual’s understanding of the intricacy, subtlety in the meaning of words can be revealed. Therefore, this study offered a new approach in assessing the word knowledge quality informed by a theoretical model of relational reasoning and its four resulting forms (Alexander & DRLRL, 2012). A novel measure of word knowledge quality, Relational Reasoning with Words (R2W2) was developed and validated in this study. Moreover, the unique contributions of relational reasoning ability and word knowledge to college students’ performance on R2W2 were also analyzed. With a sample that involved 338 participants from four US universities, the study found that R2W2 was a reliable and valid measure for word knowledge quality with sound psychometric properties on the item level. In addition, word knowledge was found to contribute to college students’ performance on R2W2 more than relational reasoning ability. Implications for future research and practice are also presented and discussed.Item Assessing Differential Item Functioning on the Test of Relational Reasoning(Frontiers, 2018-03-02) Dumas, Denis; Alexander, PatriciaThe test of relational reasoning (TORR) is designed to assess the ability to identify complex patterns within visuospatial stimuli. The TORR is designed for use in school and university settings, and therefore, its measurement invariance across diverse groups is critical. In this investigation, a large sample, representative of a major university on key demographic variables, was collected, and the resulting data were analyzed using a multi-group, multidimensional item-response theory model-comparison procedure. No significant differential item functioning was found on any of the TORR items across any of the demographic groups of interest. This finding is interpreted as evidence of the cultural fairness of the TORR, and potential test-development choices that may have contributed to that cultural fairness are discussed.Item SEEKING CULTURAL FAIRNESS IN A MEASURE OF RELATIONAL REASONING(2016) Dumas, Denis George; Alexander, Patricia A; Human Development; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Relational reasoning, or the ability to identify meaningful patterns within any stream of information, is a fundamental cognitive ability associated with academic success across a variety of domains of learning and levels of schooling. However, the measurement of this construct has been historically problematic. For example, while the construct is typically described as multidimensional—including the identification of multiple types of higher-order patterns—it is most often measured in terms of a single type of pattern: analogy. For that reason, the Test of Relational Reasoning (TORR) was conceived and developed to include three other types of patterns that appear to be meaningful in the educational context: anomaly, antinomy, and antithesis. Moreover, as a way to focus on fluid relational reasoning ability, the TORR was developed to include, except for the directions, entirely visuo-spatial stimuli, which were designed to be as novel as possible for the participant. By focusing on fluid intellectual processing, the TORR was also developed to be fairly administered to undergraduate students—regardless of the particular gender, language, and ethnic groups they belong to. However, although some psychometric investigations of the TORR have been conducted, its actual fairness across those demographic groups has yet to be empirically demonstrated. Therefore, a systematic investigation of differential-item-functioning (DIF) across demographic groups on TORR items was conducted. A large (N = 1,379) sample, representative of the University of Maryland on key demographic variables, was collected, and the resulting data was analyzed using a multi-group, multidimensional item-response theory model comparison procedure. Using this procedure, no significant DIF was found on any of the TORR items across any of the demographic groups of interest. This null finding is interpreted as evidence of the cultural-fairness of the TORR, and potential test-development choices that may have contributed to that cultural-fairness are discussed. For example, the choice to make the TORR an untimed measure, to use novel stimuli, and to avoid stereotype threat in test administration, may have contributed to its cultural-fairness. Future steps for psychometric research on the TORR, and substantive research utilizing the TORR, are also presented and discussed.